1 PSYCHE AND SPIRIT: connecting psychiatry and spirituality Newsletter of the Section on Religion, Spirituality & Psychiatry Vol. 4 Issue 2 December 2015 Editorial Board: Nahla Nagy, Simon Dein, and Peter J. Verhagen www.religionandpsychiatry.org Editorial Peter J. Verhagen In this edition of our Newsletter Psyche and Spirit several important issues are presented. Most important, the Executive committee of the WPA accepted the latest proposal for a Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry. This is really a great accomplishment. In other editions of this Newsletter the course of the discussion has been explained. The accepted text will be published in the next issue of World Psychiatry (February 2016). You will find the text in the next paragraph of this Newsletter. After the memorable international conference on Psychiatry and Religious Experience in Ávila, Spain (November 2010) we were waiting for a worthy follow up. The leadership of the Section managed to organize a two and a half days symposium as a special track on Spirituality and Mental Health during the annual meeting of the Brazilian Congress of Psychiatry. A report on this major event is published here. And a new event is coming up: A WPA international congress in Cape Town (ZA), November 2106, with a special track on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry! On behalf of the Section board and editors: Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous 2016! Position statement accepted!! Alexander Moreira- Almeida et al. This September (2015) the WPA Executive Committee approved the WPA Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry. This position statement was proposed by the Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry and is the result of years of work of its members. Based on surveys showing the relevance of religion/spirituality (R/S) to most of world's population and on more than 3,000 empirical studies investigating the relationship between R/S and health, it is now well established that R/S have significant implications for prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, outcomes and prevention, as well as for quality of life and wellbeing. The statement stresses that, for a comprehensive and person-centered approach, R/S should be considered in research, training and clinical care in psychiatry. Contents Page Editorial 1 Position Statement accepted 1 1 st Global Meeting on Spirituality and Mental Health 3 New website 8 Training Course 8 Interesting websites 9 Calendar of events 9 Meeting point 9 Join the Section 9
9
Embed
Psyche and Spirit: connecting psychiatry and spiritualityreligionandpsychiatry.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Newsletter... · 1 PSYCHE AND SPIRIT: connecting psychiatry and
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
PSYCHE AND SPIRIT: connecting psychiatry and spirituality
Newsletter of the Section on Religion, Spirituality & Psychiatry Vol. 4 Issue 2 December 2015
Editorial Board: Nahla Nagy, Simon Dein, and Peter J. Verhagen
www.religionandpsychiatry.org
Editorial Peter J. Verhagen
In this edition of our Newsletter Psyche and Spirit
several important issues are presented. Most
important, the Executive committee of the WPA
accepted the latest proposal for a Position Statement
on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry. This is really
a great accomplishment. In other editions of this
Newsletter the course of the discussion has been
explained. The accepted text will be published in the
next issue of World Psychiatry (February 2016). You
will find the text in the next paragraph of this
Newsletter.
After the memorable international conference on
Psychiatry and Religious Experience in Ávila, Spain
(November 2010) we were waiting for a worthy follow
up. The leadership of the Section managed to organize
a two and a half days symposium as a special track on
Spirituality and Mental Health during the annual
meeting of the Brazilian Congress of Psychiatry. A
report on this major event is published here. And a
new event is coming up: A WPA international congress
in Cape Town (ZA), November 2106, with a special
track on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry!
On behalf of the Section board and editors:
Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous
2016!
Position statement accepted!!
Alexander Moreira- Almeida et al.
This September (2015) the WPA Executive Committee
approved the WPA Position Statement on Spirituality
and Religion in Psychiatry. This position statement
was proposed by the Section on Religion, Spirituality
and Psychiatry and is the result of years of work of its
members.
Based on surveys showing the relevance of
religion/spirituality (R/S) to most of world's
population and on more than 3,000 empirical studies
investigating the relationship between R/S and health,
it is now well established that R/S have significant
implications for prevalence, diagnosis, treatment,
outcomes and prevention, as well as for quality of life
and wellbeing. The statement stresses that, for a
comprehensive and person-centered approach, R/S
should be considered in research, training and clinical
and suicide) and prevention, as well as for quality of
life and wellbeing3,4. The WHO has now included R/S
as a dimension of quality of life5. Although there is
evidence to show that R/S are usually associated with
better health outcomes, they may also cause harm
(e.g., treatment refusal, intolerance, negative religious
coping, etc.). Surveys have shown that R/S values,
beliefs and practices remain relevant to most of the
world population and that patients would like to have
their R/S concerns addressed in healthcare6-8.
Psychiatrists need to take into account all factors
impacting on mental health. Evidence shows that R/S
should be included among these, irrespective of
psychiatrists’ spiritual, religious or philosophical
orientation. However, few medical schools or
specialist curricula provide any formal training for
psychiatrists to learn about the evidence available, or
how to properly address R/S in research and clinical
practice7,9.
In order to fill this gap, the WPA and several
national psychiatric associations (e.g., Brazil, India,
South Africa, UK, and USA) have created sections on
R/S. WPA has included “religion and spirituality” as a
part of the “Core Training Curriculum for
Psychiatry”10.
Both terms, religion and spirituality, lack a
universally agreed definition. Definitions of spirituality
usually refer to a dimension of human experience
related to the transcendent, the sacred, or to ultimate
reality. Spirituality is closely related to values,
meaning and purpose in life. Spirituality may develop
individually or in communities and traditions. Religion
is often seen as the institutional aspect of spirituality,
usually defined more in terms of systems of beliefs
and practices related to the sacred or divine, as held
by a community or social group3,8.
Regardless of precise definitions, spirituality and
religion are concerned with the core beliefs, values
and experiences of human beings. A consideration of
their relevance to the origins, understanding and
treatment of psychiatric disorders and the patient’s
attitude toward illness should therefore be central to
clinical and academic psychiatry. Spiritual and
religious considerations also have important ethical
implications for the clinical practice of psychiatry11. In
particular, the WPA proposes that:
1. A tactful consideration of patients’ religious beliefs and practices as well as their spirituality should routinely be considered and will sometimes be an essential component of psychiatric history taking.
2. An understanding of religion and spirituality and their relationship to the diagnosis, etiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders should be considered as essential components of both psychiatric training and continuing professional development.
3. There is a need for more research on both religion and spirituality in psychiatry, especially on their clinical applications. These studies should cover a wide diversity of cultural and geographical backgrounds.
4. The approach to religion and spirituality should be person-centered. Psychiatrists should not use their professional position for proselytizing for spiritual or secular worldviews. Psychiatrists should be expected always to respect and be sensitive to the spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of their patients, and of the families and carers of their patients.
5. Psychiatrists, whatever their personal beliefs, should be willing to work with leaders/members of faith communities, chaplains and pastoral workers, and others in the community, in support of the well-being of their patients, and should encourage their multi-disciplinary colleagues to do likewise.
6. Psychiatrists should demonstrate awareness, respect and sensitivity to the important part that spirituality and religion play for many staff and volunteers in forming a vocation to work in the field of mental health care.
7. Psychiatrists should be knowledgeable concerning the potential for both benefit and harm of religious, spiritual and secular worldviews and practices and be willing to share this information in a critical but impartial way with the wider community in support of the promotion of health and well-being.
Alexander Moreira-Almeida1,2, Avdesh Sharma1,3,
Bernard Janse van Rensburg1,4, Peter J. Verhagen1,5,
Christopher C.H. Cook1,6
1WPA Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry;
2Research Center in Spirituality and Health, School of
Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil; 3‘Parivartan’ Center for Mental Health, New Delhi, India;
4Department of Psychiatry, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; 5GGZ Centraal,
Harderwijk, the Netherlands; 6Department of Theology and
Religion, Durham University, Durham, UK
The authors thank all who contributed during the process
of developing this position statement, and especially D.
Bhugra, R. Cloninger, J. Cox, V. DeMarinis, J.J. Lopez-Ibor (in
memoriam), D. Moussaoui, N. Nagy, A. Powell, and H.M.
van Praag. This position statement has drawn on some of
the text of recommendations already published in the Royal
College of Psychiatrists position statement11
.
1. Bhugra D. World Psychiatry 2014;13:328.
2. Saxena S, Funk M, Chisholm D. World Psychiatry
2014;13:107-9.
3. Koenig H, King D, Carson VB. Handbook of religion and
health, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
4. Koenig HG, McCullough ME, Larson DB. Handbook of
religion and health, 1st ed. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2001.
5. WHOQOL SRPB Group. Soc Sci Med 2006;62:1486-97.
6. Pargament KI, Lomax JW. World Psychiatry 2013;12:26-
32.
7. Moreira-Almeida A, Koenig HG, Lucchetti G. Rev Bras
Psiquiatr 2014;36:176-82.
8. Verhagen PJ, Van Praag HM, Lopez-Ibor JJ et al (eds).
Religion and psychiatry: beyond boundaries. Chichester:
Wiley, 2010.
9. Cloninger CR. Mens Sana Monographs 2013;11:16-24.
10. World Psychiatric Association. Institutional program on
the core training curriculum for psychiatry. Yokohama:
WPA, 2002. www.wpanet.org.
11. Cook CCH. Recommendations for psychiatrists on
spirituality and religion. Position Statement PS03/2011.
London: Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2011.
www.rcpsych.ac.uk.
1st Global Meeting on Spirituality and Mental Health
Alexander Moreira-Almeida
Reported by Alexander Moreira-Almeida, chair of the
WPA Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry
1st Global Meeting on Spirituality and Mental Health
This major meeting took place last November, in
Brazil, during the 2015 Brazilian Congress of
Psychiatry, which had around 7,000 participants. It
was a special track on spirituality and mental health
that covered two and a half days. It was organized by
the Committee of Studies and Research on Spirituality